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The bones will be examined by a forensic anthropologist in Pennsylvania and then sent for DNA analysis in Texas.

By TED CZECH Daily Record/Sunday News

Posted:
07/27/2013 03:15:53 PM EDT

Investigators are hoping testing in Pennsylvania and Texas will solve the identity of several human bones, and how they arrived near a shallow creek bed in southern York County.

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"As far as theories, none at this time" as to whose bones they may be, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Rob Hicks said Thursday.

The bones will be sent to the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas to undergo DNA testing, Hicks said.

The DNA evidence will then be entered into a national database of missing persons, in hopes of finding a match, said Dr. William Rodriguez, consulting forensic anthropologist for the state of Maryland.

"Typically, they send it off to Texas if they don't have anybody locally who fits the profile," Rodriguez said Thursday.

But the tests will be extensive and time-consuming, York County Coroner Barry Bloss said Wednesday.

"It's going to take a while," Bloss said of the entire process. "It could probably be months."

But before they make the trip to Texas, the bones will be examined by Dr. Dennis Dirkmaat, a forensic anthropologist at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Hicks said.

Police, along with the York County Coroner's Office, responded to a shallow stream near Route 372 and River Road in Lower Chanceford Township after two hikers found the bones about 8 a.m. on July 18.

Dirkmaat, who also responded to the scene and confirmed the bones were human, will get to look at them first and prepare a report, called a "biological profile," Rodriguez said.

In putting together the profile, Dirkmaat will try to determine the age, sex, and race of the person to whom they belong, Rodriguez said.

It might also be possible to determine injuries -- such as gunshots, stab wounds, and blunt force -- and also how long the bones had been by the creek, Rodriguez said.